Example of social network mapping from client project*.
As I discussed in my last post, we need to understand the current organization before we can design a new one.
And we can’t rely on the existing organization chart for this.
We certainly … [Continue reading]

You need to understand how the current organization works - before you can design a new one.
As professor Ron Sanchez of the Copenhagen Business School puts it: “You can’t improve something that you can’t describe” .
So we need to describe the … [Continue reading]

We all know that we need the support of key stakeholders in a change process.
And this is absolutely critical if we are talking about potential changes with regards to roles and reporting relationships.
A key stakeholder may ignore our proposal … [Continue reading]

How much “structure” do you need in an organization?
This is one of the eternal debates in the field of management & organization.
Unfortunately, the debate is often based on ideology and personal preferences. One example is the movement that … [Continue reading]

A seemingly small change in the formal structure of an organization may greatly simplify – or complicate – the way we work.
The problem is that when we move boxes on the organization chart, we don’t easily see how a formal regrouping will … [Continue reading]

About

The purpose of this blog is to provide research based advice for managers who want to design a more effective organization.
I am an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
See the "About" page for more details.